LAKELAND, Fla. (January 9, 2021) – After the Warriors upset the Fire 83-76 on the road last season, there would be no upset this time around despite a valiant second-half comeback attempt by the Webber International University men's basketball team, which in the end, fell 66-56 against nationally-recognized Southeastern University.

Starting with 11:37 left in the game, the Warriors used a huge 19-3 run to turn a 22-point deficit at 55-33 into only a six-point game at 58-52 following a jumper by Rasheem Etienne with 5:46 remaining. Five different Warriors scored during the run while Etienne accounted for eight points during the stretch.

Unfortunately, Southeastern got it back to a 12-point game at 64-52 with 4:06 on the clock, and Webber was never able put another run together as it missed its last eight shots of the game.

Etienne finished with 19 points for the second game in a row to lead the Warriors in scoring while Deante Green added nine points and Marcus Massey had eight. Eddie Davis lead Webber in rebounds with nine.

"We had a disappointing loss this evening," said Head Coach Gabriel Rutledge. "SEU outworked us in many areas and showed why they are a championship program. I was proud of the guys off our bench that showed great heart and fortitude to respond after being down in the first half. Although it is disappointing to lose, we will continue to grow and build a championship program of our own. Go Warriors."

To start the game, Webber led 2-0 on a jumper by Jaylon Myles on the very first possession of the contest, and then led 12-10 on a 3-pointer by Myles before a big 15-0 run for the Fire made it 25-12 Southeastern with 7:45 left in the first half.

A layup by Kris Goettert finally stopped the run for Southeastern, and then back-to-back layups by Etienne and Green got Webber's deficit back down to single digits at 27-18.

Unfortunately, a 9-0 Fire run made it 36-18 with three minutes left in the first half before a three by Green stopped the run. Then, a 3-pointer by Massey made it 38-24 with just over a minute left before the break.

In all for the first half, Webber was 4-for-4 from three, but allowed Southeastern to shoot 50 percent (14-28) from the field while the Warriors also turned the ball over 17 times and trailed 18-4 in points off of those turnovers.

After Webber started the second half with five straight points by Goettert to make the score 40-29, the Fire answered with a 10-0 run to go ahead by 21 points at 50-29 before ultimately leading by 22.

Webber fell to 7-11 overall and 3-5 in The Sun Conference while Southeastern snapped its three-game conference losing streak to improve to 10-5 and 4-4.

Next up, Webber will return home to the Sabbagh Athletic Center as the Warriors host St. Thomas University at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 14. Earlier this season on December 3, the Warriors defeated the Bobcats at home by a finale score of 67-54.